Yay, Earth!

It’s Earth Day, and so, despite the torrential rain and wind this morning, I was jonesing for a run on the trails.I headed out under giant raindrops and blustering wind, having to duck my shoulder down and grit my teeth. By the time I reached the trees and protection from the hills to the west, everything was calm. I ran through mud and puddles, and noticed the new spring grass popping up alongside the trail. The rain had subsided, too, and the cool damp air held that post-rain smell. Awesome.By the time I got back to my car, the sun was shining, the sky was blue. I got the full gamut of spring weather on a 50-minute run, and I got a good dose of earth on Earth Day.Trail running—and its mud, roots, rocks, trees, squirrels, deer poop, etc.—always seems to serve up a good dose of earth…much more than road running does (no offense, road running).And since Earth Day is all about protecting Mother Earth, I thought I’d bring up the topic of running on muddy trails.According to the principles of Leave No Trace, and other documents put together by non-profit trail organizations like the IMBA Rules of the Trail (full disclosure: my husband works at IMBA), we need to think about whether to run on trails when they get muddy.To preserve trails, we—as runners, mountain bikers and hikers—ideally should stay off super muddy trails until they dry. If we’re on them, we should go right down the center of them and not widen the trail.I have to admit: I didn't know this years ago. Being perhaps...odd, I liked hitting muddy trails and slipping around, coming home filthy and exhausted. Now I know.My rainy run this morning was on mostly rock, some puddles…there wasn’t a lot of gooey mud. I'm glad I wasn't destroying anything (besides my legs), and I'm very happy I got out on the earth.Happy Earth Day, everyone!

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